


A Moment (Just Stand Still)

by kiss_me_cassie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Neighbors, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Misunderstandings, OG6, Old School, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-04
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:14:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,752
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26287039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiss_me_cassie/pseuds/kiss_me_cassie
Summary: Attraction? Try full-blown, hopelessly unrequited crush. Unrequited being the key word. Clint saw her as his best buddy, and for the most part that worked just fine for her. Except for when she wanted to jump his bones, which happened to be pretty much any time he was within touching distance lately. And sometimes when he wasn't.
Relationships: Bruce Banner & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov, Clint Barton/Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill & Natasha Romanov, Maria Hill/Steve Rogers
Comments: 18
Kudos: 72
Collections: be_compromised AU Exchange 2020





	A Moment (Just Stand Still)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [amonkeysue](https://archiveofourown.org/users/amonkeysue/gifts).



> For amonkeysue/widowsresolve - this was such a fun thing to do and I am really glad you listed Maria and possible Maria/Steve as an add on!
> 
> Thanks to gsparkles and the kid for various forms of help (waaaay back when I first conceived this)  
> Thanks to Paperairplanes & Crazy4Orcas for cheerleading and beta (love you guys so much!)  
> Thanks to Tielan, who totally inspired the Steve/Maria subplot with her neighbor fics - https://archiveofourown.org/series/398731  
> Thanks to Amy Sherman-Palladino for the title and some general inspiration.

"Remind me again why we keep having these things?" Phil asked Natasha, gesturing towards the numerous people in her backyard. 

She shot him a grin. "The neighborhood barbecues?" 

"No, the death defying battles with our alien overlords," Phil deadpanned with a long-suffering sigh. "Yes, of course the barbecues."

Natasha peered out over the crowd of friends and neighbors hanging out in her backyard and on her newly built deck then turned back to Phil.

"Because we like our neighbors and want to spend time with them?" she said with a smirk, her eyes landing on Clint, who was across the yard firing up her grill. Her gaze stayed on him a little longer than was necessary and Phil made a little humming noise beside her. "What?"

"I feel like maybe you like some more than others," he murmured.

Natasha fought the blush she felt rising in her cheeks. And here she was, thinking she was doing an admirable job of hiding her feelings for Clint. Apparently she wasn't. Or maybe it was just that Phil had known both of them for such a long time that he saw things her other friends didn't. She really hoped it was the latter, though she had a sneaky suspicion it was the former.

She sighed and Phil's expression softened. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. Two consenting adults, who've had a long friendship… an attraction of sorts was bound to happen sooner or later."

It was hard not to let out a groan of frustration. Attraction? Try full-blown, hopelessly unrequited crush. Unrequited being the key word. Clint saw her as his best buddy, and for the most part that worked just fine for her. Except for when she wanted to jump his bones, which happened to be pretty much any time he was within touching distance lately. And sometimes when he wasn't. 

When he'd helped her build this new deck over the summer, it had been a huge exercise in self-restraint. Especially because Clint had constantly been pulling his shirt up to wipe the sweat from his brow or whipping it off altogether to cool off. She'd lost count of the number of times she'd made up some lame excuse to go inside and 'cool off' herself. The man had abs and arms to die for and the sight of his naked chest made her feel things that went far, far beyond best friendship.

Even now, watching him fiddle with her grill, fully clothed but in a tight fitting purple t-shirt, he had her libido going into overdrive.

Phil's voice broke through her thoughts. "Natasha?"

She pulled her attention back to him and plastered a smile on her face. "Why do we have these barbecues? Because besides wanting to spend time with all of you, Clint wanted to show off all the work he did on my new deck."

Phil nodded. "It's a very nice deck. Must've taken up a lot of his free time to help you."

"I suppose," she said, eyeing him curiously and trying really hard not to think about how much of his time she'd monopolized. She already felt guilty enough for lusting after him. She didn't want to feel guilty about taking up all his free time and keeping him from other, possibly more important, things, too.

Not that Clint had ever complained. In fact, he'd seemed downright enthusiastic. Another thing she tried really hard not to think about. Because she was pretty sure his enthusiasm had less to do with her personally and more to do with the chance to work with his hands. And that cut a little bit too close to her tender heart to contemplate.

"It just makes you wonder, that's all," Phil mused.

She opened her mouth, about to ask 'about what?' - even though she knew exactly what - when the sight of an unfamiliar, nervous looking man coming up her driveway caught her eye. He was carrying a couple of heavily loaded canvas totes and seemed unsure if he was in the right place.

She gestured with her glass of iced tea towards him. "Who's that?"

"New guy," Phil said, looking over to where she was pointing. "Bought the old Danvers place. Bryce? Brody? Something like that."

"Bruce," Pepper said as she stepped up onto the deck to join them. "Tony met him last week, before he left for the symposium in Switzerland. He liked him a lot, but also said he seemed awfully shy. He thought inviting him to the party might give him the chance to meet some more people and loosen up."

"He does look a little out of his element. Why don't you one of you go chat him up?" Natasha suggested.

Pepper shot a mischievous look towards Phil. "Because I came over here to let Phil know his cellist has also arrived and wanted to make sure he went over and talked to her."

"Audrey," he corrected absentmindedly, his gaze instantly shifting to the willowy woman who had paused to say hello to Thor and Jane. "Her name is Audrey."

Pepper beamed at him.

"What?" Phil asked, his lips twisting into an odd little smile. "I never said I didn't know her name."

"Two months," Pepper said pointedly. "It took you two months to learn her name."

"Correction. It took me two days to learn her name and then two months to get up the courage to talk to her."

Pepper got that gooey look on her face which Natasha knew would lead to some serious gushing. Time to get back to the subject of Bruce.

"Um, guys?" she interjected. "Can we get back to the matter at hand?"

"What? The new guy?" Phil asked, dragging his eyes away from Audrey and focusing on Bruce again.

"Yes," Natasha said patiently. "Who gets the honor of saying hello and introducing him around?"

"You," they both answered without hesitation.

Natasha frowned. "Why me?

Pepper smiled at her. "It's your house and your party."

"Correction. It may be my house but it is not exclusively my party. Clint is cohosting."

Phil made a little choking noise and Pepper patted him on the back. Natasha chose not to think about why he was choking. Because really, what more was there to say on the subject?

"Just go say hello," Phil suggested when he'd recovered. "Ask him what he does for a living and how he likes the new house. Things like that."

"And since Clint is currently occupied with the grill, what else do you have to do?" Pepper asked with a grin. 

Natasha shot an annoyed look at her. Yes, she and Clint spent a lot of time together -- sharing weekly dinners, hanging out on his back patio, working out together -- but it's not like they spent _all_ of their time with one another. They did things apart. 

Ok, so not a lot of things, but they weren't inseparable. They weren't joined at the hip.

Although, from someone else's perspective, she could see how it might look that way. They did tend to live in one another's pockets quite a bit.

Her frown deepened. Clearly, she had to work on this Clint thing even more than she'd thought.

"Go," Phil said, nudging her none too gently in Bruce's direction. "Be nice. Looks like he could use some new friends."

Pepper, damn her, just smiled and made a little shooing motion with her hand.

With a nearly imperceptible sigh, Natasha squared her shoulders, cast one last baleful glance at Phil and Pepper, then headed over to the new guy, who was still standing at the edge of her yard looking very uncertain.

She plastered a smile on her face as she approached him. "Hi, I'm Natasha. Welcome to the barbecue!"

He awkwardly shifted the two tote bags he was carrying into one hand before sticking out the other and giving her a brief but firm handshake. "Bruce. I'm… Well, I'm new to the neighborhood, but I guess you knew that."

"It's hard to miss," she said, her smile gentle.

He gestured to the bags he was holding. "I'm not much of a drinker, but Tony Stark was pretty adamant when he invited me that I bring drinks to this thing, so I brought some mixers."

Poor thing. He really was out of his element. "I think he might have meant sodas or lemonade or something."

Bruce's face fell. "Oh. That probably would have made more sense."

"Oh no! These are very much appreciated. Thank you!" Taking pity on him, she grabbed one of the bags from him. "While family friendly drinks are the norm, with this crowd things that mix with booze will definitely not go to waste. Here, let me show you where to put them."

Casting a glance over her shoulder, she led him up the steps and over to the corner of the deck where a couple of ice-filled coolers sat. "We can dump this stuff here."

"Thank you."

She looked at the eclectic assortment of things he'd brought. It was an odd mixture, like he'd walked into a liquor store and just grabbed the first ten things he saw. 

"So… a bit of a teetotaler?" she guessed.

"Afraid so. That obvious?"

"A little bit. But only to those paying close attention," she said with a wink. She cocked her head at him, considering. "You know, I probably have some cherries and grenadine in the pantry. I make a mean Shirley Temple. Are you interested?"

He smiled gratefully at her. "That might be nice."

"Then c'mon," she invited, ushering him through the backdoor to the kitchen.

While Natasha dug out the ingredients for the Shirley Temple, Bruce looked around. 

"Nice place, very airy and minimalist. I like it."

She looked out the window to where Clint was making conversation with Doc Selvig while he laid the chicken out on the grill. The tendons in his forearms stood out in stark relief as he worked and she felt her cheeks grow warm just watching him. Yes, she deifnitely had to work on ths Cint thing.

"Clint thinks it's a little too minimalist," she said, dragging her eyes away from him to concentrate on drink mixing. "My lack of stuff drives him crazy."

"Must make it hard living with him," Bruce said, picking up the matryoshka doll which was the sole decorative item on her counter. He carefully opened it and began systematically lining up all the dolls in height order.

Natasha finished with his drink and held it out with a broad smile. "Not at all, considering he lives next door."

"So he's not your husband?" Bruce asked, forehead crinkling in confusion. "I thought someone had mentioned…"

Natasha flushed and shook her head. "Nope. Just a neighbor."

Her gaze strayed to the backyard again. Just another neighbor. One she'd been crushing on forever, but a neighbor nonetheless. And she was sticking to that, no matter what.

"Just another neighbor, huh?" Bruce asked. At her look, he quickly backtracked. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have… I'm sorry."

"No, it's ok. We're really good friends, too." She shrugged it off, as if it was no big deal. "But that's all, you know?"

He nodded, a peculiar look on his face, and Natasha didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Clearly Bruce had some experience with unrequited feelings. On the other hand, her feelings for Clint were getting so obvious that even a virtual stranger noticed. Phil she could understand; she'd known him as long as she'd known Clint. But Bruce had just met her and even he saw right through her flimsy claim of friendship.

Squaring her shoulders, she picked up a jar of cherries. "Enough about Clint. Let me put these away and then I'll take you around to meet some people from the neighborhood."

\-----

After Natasha introduced Bruce to a few people and got him settled with Doc Selvig, who was thrilled to have an appreciative audience who let him talk about multiverses, Natasha headed over to the grill.

Clint threw an arm around her shoulders and gestured with the tongs toward the crowd of people in her backyard. "Hell of a party."

She grinned up at him. "Can't complain."

"Well, you could, but why would you want to?" he asked with a wink. "You've got a beautiful new deck, great friends, and amazing food grilled by yours truly. What else could you possibly want?"

She wanted to blurt out that she wanted _him_ ,she thought ruefully, but why ruin a perfectly good evening by bringing that up? Besides, Maria and Steve had just strolled through her gate, their pinky fingers linked together as they made their way up the side yard. 

Huh. That was new. New, but not exactly unexpected. Things between those two had been simmering for a while. She couldn't wait to hear what had happened.

It would probably have to wait a little while though, since Maria let go of Steve's hand as soon as they were within shouting distance. Natasha didn't know if she wanted to keep their relationship a secret or not, but if she did, Steve was doing an admirable job of thwarting her plans, because as soon as she let go of his hand, he moved it to the small of her back.

With a pointed look in Steve's direction, Natasha raised a questioning brow at Maria, who just smiled slightly and mouthed, "Later," as they veered off towards the deck and the door to Natasha's kitchen.

"Did I just see what I thought I saw?" Clint asked, taking his arm from around her to flip the chicken.

She nodded. "You absolutely did."

"Did you know about them?"

"I knew something was brewing, but not that anything had actually happened," she said. "The hand holding is brand new to me."

"Huh." His expression was hooded and she wondered what he was thinking.

"Huh is right," she said, nabbing his bottle of beer and taking a swig. "I'll have to grill her later."

He swiped the bottle back from her and took a sip of his own. "Who needs later? Go do it now. And tell Steve I need those burgers over here. The chicken's almost done and I want to get them going."

"Roger that," she said with a mock salute and headed off.

\----

Natasha opened the slider to her kitchen none too quietly and entered the house just in time to see Steve and Maria jump apart.

"I put the cream puffs in your fridge to keep them from getting soggy in this heat," Maria said hastily, taking a step back from Steve and bumping into the kitchen island.

Natasha smirked at her then turned to Steve, who was looking a little flushed but also quite satisfied with himself. 

"Clint's got the chicken and steak going, but they're almost done and he's impatient for the burgers. Now might be a good time to join him over by the grill. And here," she said, thrusting a second platter at Steve. "Take these veggies over there, too. They've been marinated, but they need to go on the grill for a couple of minutes to get a nice char on them."

"Yes, ma'am. Burgers and grilled vegetables coming right up," Steve said with a grin, hefting the veggie platter in one hand and the tray of burgers in the other as he headed out the door.

For once, Natasha's gaze didn't stray towards Steve's destination, where Clint waited patiently by the grill waiting for more meat. She was far more interested in the way Maria's eyes followed Steve's ass across the yard.

"So…" Natasha prompted, bumping her shoulder against Maria's. "Steve? When did that start?"

Maria shrugged nonchalantly, but couldn't quite hide her grin all together. "About a week ago."

"Ok, spill. I need all the details," Natasha said.

"It's only been a week," Maria protested. "There aren't that many details to give."

"Sure there are," Natasha said with an evil grin. "How did it happen? Who made the first move? How is he in bed?"

"Natasha!"

Natasha raised an eyebrow at her. "What? Are you telling me you haven't slept together yet?"

"I didn't say that."

"So you have slept with him."

"I didn't say that either."

"So you had hot, kinky sex on the couch and then he went home to his empty house and you went upstairs to your lonely bed?" Natasha guessed. When Maria blushed, she cackled in glee. "Oh my god, I'm right, aren't I? How kinky was it?"

"Let's just say, he has a very talented tongue and I'll never be able to look at my couch or my living room in quite the same way again," Maria admitted before narrowing her eyes at Natasha and changing the subject. "How are things with Clint?"

Natasha sighed. She'd known it was only a matter of time until Maria asked, but she'd been hoping the discussion about Steve would distract her a little longer. "Stagnant."

"Natasha! You have to tell him," Maria said. 

"Tell him what, exactly? Hey, I know you're my best friend but I'm in love with you so how would you feel if I stripped you naked and took you up to my bedroom for a weekend of non-stop sex?"

"Yes, you should say exactly that." Maria paused and reconsidered. "Or maybe skip all the words and go straight to stripping him naked. Clint strikes me as the type who likes action more than words."

Natasha's lips twisted. "I'll take it under advisement. For now how about we round up everyone so they can enjoy all the food Clint's been grilling?"

\-----

Later that night, when the last of the neighbors had packed up their stuff and headed home, Natasha collapsed down onto the hammock swing Clint had rigged up on the deck. 

"Should I unplug the twinkle lights?" he asked. 

"No, I like them," she said, looking around at the strings of lights draped all over the deck railing. She motioned for Clint to join her on the swing. "C'mere."

"Yes ma'am," he murmured, taking a seat next her and wrapping his arm around her shoulders to pull her in against him. She snuggled into him, like she had a dozen times before, inhaling the uniquely male scent of him.

"Good party," he commented.

She nodded against his shoulder and smiled. "It was a very good party."

"So… Steve and Maria. They together now?" he asked.

"Yup. Maria confirmed it. They started seeing each other about a week ago." 

Clint silently fiddled with her fingers for a moment then let go of her hand. "You don't think it's a bad idea, neighbors dating?"

"I think it's sweet."

"You think so?" he asked, raising a brow at her. 

"Why wouldn't it be?" Natasha asked, her own brow furrowing in confusion as she peered up at him.

"What if it doesn't work out?"

Oh God. Is that what he thought? No wonder he'd never shown a bit of interest in her. Besides, you know, not being into her that way.

"I think that they'll figure out a way to make it work," she said very carefully as she sat up a little. "And if not, well, they're both adults. I'm sure they'd find a way to stay amicable."

He hummed noncommittally and she sighed before settling back against him. "Did you get a chance to meet the new neighbor, Bruce?"

Clint nodded. "Seemed like a nice guy. I didn't really get much of a chance to talk with him. How'd he find out about the party?"

"Tony. Apparently he invited him right before jetting off to Switzerland."

"Oh yeah?" Clint asked with a chuckle. "Of course he did."

She watched his lips as he spoke, tuning out what else he said so she could contemplate just how far she'd have to stretch to ghost her lips against his jaw… when she yawned. A big, jaw popping yawn that had Clint peering down at her in concern.

Dammit. Another missed opportunity. Her life was full of them lately.

"Hey," Clint said, rubbing her shoulder briefly before urging her to sit up. "You're falling asleep here. Let's get you to bed."

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him to join her when he kissed her forehead before pulling her up from the swing and giving her a little push toward the door. She wanted to protest, but another yawn overtook her and all she could do do was nod stupidly as he opened the slider and gave her another nudge.

"Sleep well, Tasha," he said, as the door slid shut behind her.

He stayed on the deck until she'd flipped the lock into place and then she watched him through the glass as he bent to unplug the twinkle lights, then ambled down the steps and headed towards his own yard.

As soon as he was out of sight, she thumped her forehead against the cool glass surface of the door. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid! Why hadn't she said anything? Why hadn't she kissed him, like she'd been dreaming about for so long? Why hadn't she invited him in instead of letting him walk away? Why had she been such a coward? _Again_. 

Why?

\-----

About a week later, Bruce showed up at Natasha's house with a brisk knock on her front door. 

"I, um, left my tote bags here the other night," he said when she opened the door.

"Ah! I thought those were yours. I stashed them in the garage. C'mon," she said, stepping out on the porch with him and then leading him down the steps to her garage door. She slid the door up and Bruce goggled at the tall, slightly curved structure in the corner.

"What's that?" he asked.

"Oh, it's something Clint and I were working on for my Ninja in Training gymnastics class."

"What do you… do… with it?" Bruce asked in confusion as he slowly walked around the structure.

Natasha laughed. "You run really fast towards it and then half run up it, half scale it."

Bruce made a face that looked equally scared and awed. "That sounds terrifying."

"It is. But it's also an amazing rush when you get to the top."

He examined the half-finished wall more closely. "What made you think to build one of these?"

"Steve - you met him at the barbecue, right? - he competes in these crazy obstacle courses on weekends and one of the more popular courses he does includes a warp wall. He thought if I built a mini course it might help me get more young kids excited about gymnastics."

"You know, I have several advanced degrees in Physics and I'm not so bad with a hammer and nails. I could probably help you finish it," Bruce offered, walking around the structure again.

Natasha smiled but shook her head. "Thanks, but I think Clint and I have it covered."

"Clint," Bruce repeated, his brows furrowed in confusion. "The two of you never...? I know you said you were just friends the other night, but..." 

He trailed off and Natasha shrugged.

"I thought at one time maybe we'd wind up together, but then he was dating someone and I was concentrating on my gym up and running and it never happened."

"But you want something with him?"

She shrugged again. "What we have now, it's good. I wouldn't want to ruin it."

"There was a woman once - Betty. I thought we'd eventually get married, but then... things happened and that was that. No more Betty."

"I'm sorry."

He nodded his acknowledgment and she suddenly felt a wave of melancholy overcome her. Is that what she and Clint were destined to become? Best friends who slowly drifted apart until they were only memories to one another?

No, they would never turn out that way. They were too close. She needed to stop thinking about that; she needed a distraction.

"Do you play chess?" she asked Bruce suddenly. 

"Chess? Yes, a little. Why?"

"The only one around here who plays is Tony and I swear he cheats."

Bruce's eyebrows rose. "At chess? Is that even possible?"

"I have no idea, but I swear he does," she said with a laugh. "If I went and got the chess board and made us a couple of Shirley Temples, would you join me for a game?"

He smiled, one of the first genuine smiles she'd seen from him since they'd met. "It would be my pleasure."

\-----

**Bruce knows how to play chess. Now I don't always have to play with Tony.**

_Hey, I promised I'd learn!_

**That was three years ago**

_I didn't say when_

**We still on for dinner tonight?**

_Sorry. Can't. Fury signed up a new client and asked me to take point on their security detail_

**Maybe this weekend?**

_I'll let you know._

\----

As the next few weeks went by, Natasha started to see Bruce more often. In addition to being a keen chess player, he also had a bit of green thumb and they spent a couple of weekends browsing the local gardening centers together while Natasha helped him plan his garden.

But as Natasha started to spend more time with Bruce, she also noticed she started to see a lot less of Clint. She knew he was super busy with his new security contract, but it was more than that. It was almost like he was avoiding her. She just couldn't figure out why.

Which is why on Saturday night when she saw his classic Mustang pull into the drive while she was looking wistfully out her kitchen window, she knew she had to go see him. Immediately.

Quickly pulling out the clip holding her messy bun in place, she shook her curls loose before dashing out the door and down the steps. She slowed as she got closer to his driveway.

"Hey, Barton! You have a minute?" she called to him as he got out of the car.

He didn't seem at all surprised to see her. Glancing at his phone, his brow furrowed for a moment before he answered. "About a minute, sure."

"Haven't seen you in a while," she started.

Clint shrugged. "Yeah. Since Sitwell up and quit --"

She frowned. "Sitwell quit?"

"I didn't tell you?"

It was her turn to shrug, although she wasn't feeling as nonchalant as she acted. "I missed seeing you for our regular Friday night dinner."

"Shit. I'm sorry, Nat! But it's been so busy."

"Maybe we can do something this week? Maria took me to this amazing new pastry place the other day. They have the best cannoli I've ever had."

He smiled and she blew out a sigh of relief. "That sounds good. But I can't make any promises."

She pressed a light kiss to his cheek. "Just try, ok?"

He nodded. "Ok."

"Good."

\-----

"Oh for the love of Mike, you two are the most messed up and infuriating people I know!" Maria exclaimed at lunch the next day.

Natasha peered over the rim of her margarita and tried not to glare at her friend. She was, after all, only trying to help. Even if her help was completely unnecessary, given that Clint just wasn't interested in her romantically. Which she tried to tell Maria -- again -- to no avail.

"He's not interested, Maria," she insisted. "He's made it abundantly clear."

Maria took a bite of her fajita and shook her head. "No, what he's made abundantly clear is that he's feeling left out. He sees you spending all this time with Bruce and he thinks he's not important to you anymore."

"That's ridiculous! He knows how important he is to me."

Maria stared her down. "Does he?"

"Of course he does. We've practically lived in each other's pockets for years now. How could he not?"

"Oh, I don't know," Maria said. "Let me count the ways…"

"You know, I liked you much better when you weren't doing whatever you're doing with Steve," Natasha grumbled. She didn't mean it, of course, but Maria knew better than to take her seriously.

She laughed. "You mean having hot, wild sex without talking about our feelings?"

"Yes, that," Natasha confirmed. "Which doesn't sound much healthier than me pining over Clint."

Maria sighed. "You got me there. It's not the healthiest relationship I've ever had. Let's have another round of margaritas before I head back to the office for the afternoon. We can drown our romantic woes with alcohol."

Natasha nodded her head enthusiastically. "Let's."

\-----

Maria's words echoed in her head the rest of the afternoon and into the evening as she led her beginner class through their paces by rote. By the time she closed up the gym later that night and finally let herself into her house, she was fairly vibrating with anticipation and nervousness.

She changed out of her gym clothes and slipped into a pair of sleep shorts and an old t-shirt - one of Clint's abandoned t-shirts she noticed - then sat cross legged on her bed and stared at her phone.

Should she start with a simple hello? No, that would be too easy to ignore. Ask him about the warp wall? No, that sounded like she just wanted help for her pet project. 

She needed something better, something that would convince him that she wanted to repair their friendship. If it needed repairing. If this wasn't all in her head and he really had been super busy this past month.

She sighed. It wasn't all in her head. 

Even when they were both at their busiest, they'd always checked in with each other and made a point to grab a quick bite together at least once a week. But there hadn't been any shared meals for weeks and when was the last time he'd checked in with her? 

She'd invited him over to try out the cannoli she'd bought at Clementine's and, after a vague promise to do so, he'd never shown up.

She blew out a breath and stared at her phone for a while longer, before tossing it to the side in frustration and flopping back onto her bed.

She definitely needed to do something. But the problem was… what? What in the world did she have to offer him?

\-----

Several nights later, Clint showed up on her on her back deck as she sat in the hammock swing, her phone in her hand as she tried desperately to come up with something snappy enough to get him to come over.

He hadn't stopped by, called or texted her in ages. So the fact that he was here, in front of her and not just in her dreams, was a bit of a surprise. Then she saw the purple tupperware container in his hands.

"I, uh, got the cannoli you left on my porch," Clint said, setting the container down on her patio table. "Thanks. It was as good as you promised."

Natasha smiled wanly at him. "I'm glad you enjoyed it. I only wish we could have shared it. I've missed trying out new restaurants with you. I've missed _you_."

"I've missed you, too, Tasha. You're my best friend," he whispered hoarsely.

Her face fell. _Best friend_. The words twisted like a knife in her heart. What she felt for him was so much more and that he thought of her as just a friend… it killed her.

He cleared his throat and hitched a thumb over his shoulder in the general direction of his house. 

"I should go."

She nodded mutely, her throat too thick with emotion to say anything else.

"See ya around?" he asked. 

She nodded again.

With a curiously sad expression, he turned and started to walk away.

She stood and turned to go inside, but paused before reaching the door. What had that look been about? That slightly sad, confused look on his face right before he'd gone? She'd seen some variation of it on several occasions in the past month, but time and circumstances and her own hurt feelings had never given her the chance to ask. But maybe… Maybe that look was just a mirror of all the similar looks she'd been covertly giving him?

She spun around and stared at his retreating figure.

Was it possible? Could he actually have romantic feelings for her too?

"Clint! Wait!" she called, a hint of desperation she didn't bother to hide in her voice.

He turned, but kept on walking backwards towards his house. "Go to bed, Natasha. It's late. We can talk tomorrow."

"No," she said, surprising even herself with the strength of her objection. Before she had a chance to talk herself out of it, she ran down the deck steps and across the lawn towards him. 

He stopped in the middle of the yard as she approached him, slowing the closer she got until she was standing right in front of him.

It was now or never.

She reached a hand out to stroke his arm - oh, god, those fabulous, muscular arms - but stopped just shy of touching him. No, she needed something more. Something that would leave him with absolutely no doubt as to her intentions.

Stretching up on tiptoe, she brushed her lips gently across his. It was barely even a kiss, but it was more than enough to get her point across and in seconds his hands were tangling in her hair and he was pulling her in close so his mouth could plunder hers. Her arms wound around his neck as she pressed closer to his solid body and he moaned as he deepened their kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Jesus, Tasha," he breathed as he pulled back to lean his forehead against hers. "What was that for?"

"I told you… I _missed_ you," she said plainly.

"You… missed me?" he asked, his voice filled with hope and a little bit of awe.

She nodded and looked up at him with her heart in her eyes. 

"Yes. Do you think I might be able to come over and maybe show you how much?" she asked a bit nervously.

"If you come over, you won't be leaving any time soon," he said, fingers stroking down her cheek.

She looked up at him hopefully. "Like maybe not until tomorrow morning?"

"Maybe," he said, giving her a quick, hard kiss. "Or maybe tomorrow afternoon. Possibly Sunday. Next week. Who knows?"

"I'm really incredibly ok with that," she answered grinning and putting her hand in his and letting him lead her inside.


End file.
